Chap. 318.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, and 14
of the act approved March 12, 1904, relating to the establishment, proper
construction, and permanent improvement of the public roads and landings,
for building and keeping in good order and repair all public roads, bridges,
causeways, and wharves, and soforth.

Approved March 17, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, ‘That sections
one, two, three, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen of the act of as-
sembly, approved March twelfth, nineteen hundred and four, be amended
and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$944a. Establishment, proper construction, and permanent improve-
ment of public roads and landings; for building and keeping in good
order and repair all public roads, bridges, causeways and wharves; for
control of county roads, and soforth, by a State engineer, board of super-
visors, county superintendent of roads, road subdistrict boards and road
subdistrict surveyors, and soforth.

(1) Except in the counties where some special road law is in force, the
hoards of supervisors, county superintendents of roads, road subdistrict
boards, road subdistrict surveyors of their respective counties, and the
State engineer shall have the control, supervision, management, and
jurisdiction, as is or may be hereafter provided by law, over all of the
county roads, causeways, bridges, landings, and wharves constructed or
repaired in this State.

(2) View of roads, bridges, and routes for new roads; by whom made;
width and grade of roads; employment of surveyor.——Whenever the
county superintendent of roads, or the board of supervisors, shall be of
opinion that it is necessary to establish or alter the location of a public
road, landing, or bridge, or where any person applies to said board
therefor, it may appoint five viewers, who shall be resident freeholders
of the county, any three of whom may act, or it may direct the county or
district superintendent of roads to examine such roads or routes, and
report upon the expediency of altering the location of any road, or of
establishing any new road, or building or repairing any bridge, or to lay
off any new road such width and at such grade as it mav prescribe: pro-
vided. that the right of way for any public road shall be thirty feet wide,
and the grade of no road hereafter located shall exceed four degrees at
any one point, unless the board of supervisors order a different width or
different grade. If no one of the viewers be a surveyor, the said board
of supervisors may employ one, if necessary, to assist said viewers.

(3) Duty of viewer; report; deed from landowners and action of
board thereon.—The said viewers shall, as early as practicable after re-
ceiving the order of said board to that effect, proceed to make the view,
and he may examine other routes and locations than that proposed, and
if he is of opinion that there is a necessity to establish or alter the loca-
tion of the public road, landing or bridge, he shall locate the same; re-
turn a map or diagram thereof with his report; make report to said board
stating his reasons for preferring the location made; the probable cost
of establishing or altering and location of such road, landing, or bridge;
the convenience and inconvenience that will result as well to individuals
as to the public; whether the said road, landing, or bridge will be one of
such mere private convenience as to make it proper that it should be
opened, established, or altered and kept in order by the person or persons
for whose convenience it is desired; whether any yard, garden, or orchard
will have to be taken; the names of the landowners on such route; which
of such landowners require compensation; what will be a just compen-
sation to the landowners requiring compensation for the land so taken and
for the damages to the residue of the tract, if any, beyond the peculiar
benefits to be derived in respect to such residue, from the road, landing
or bridge to be established; all other facts and circumstances in his
opinion useful in enabling the board of supervisors to determine the ex-
pediency of establishing or altering the road, landing, or bridge; and he
shall file such report with the clerk of the board.

In the event that some of the landowners Jo not require compensation,
and they will execute written consent given the right of way in question,
the said superintendent or viewers shall obtain same and return it with
his report.

Should any of the landowners require compensation and not unite in
such deed, the subsequent proceedings as to them shall be as provided for
in the subsections four, five, and six of said act of assembly approved
March twelfth, nineteen hundred and four.

(11) Levy of road tax; how collected and expended; when board may
purchase machinery, and soforth, for improvement of roads.—The board
of supervisors of each county shall annually levy, along with the county
levy, a road tax upon the property, real and personal, assessed for tax-
ation in their county. Such tax shall be not more than forty cents on
every one hundred dollars in value of such property, and the same shall
be collected, accounted for, and paid out on the warrant of the board as
if it were a county levy. Such tax shall be applied to the building and
repair of roads and bridges, defraying the county’s proportion of expense
of construction of any public road therein for which State aid is ob-
tained as may be provided by law, the payment of costs and damages in-
cident to the alteration of roads or the establishment of new roads and
landings, the purchase of road graders, scrapers, and all machinery, tools,
wagons, carts, and teams necessary for the proper working and repair of
all the roads of said county, for the support of the county chain-gang,
and the payment of the road superintendent and his deputies for their
service as hereinafter provided. After thé payment of the aforesaid ex-
penses, if there be any of said funds remaining unexpended, the said
hoard of supervisors may, out of said fund, purchase crushers and en-
gines, crush stone for sale to the various road districts of its county at
such price as shall be just and equitable and macadamize such roads in
said county as said board may deem necessary and proper to be macadam-
ized at the expense of said general fund, or it may apportion the re-
mainder of said fund, or any part thereof, among the several magisterial
districts of its county, in proportion to the amount of road tax paid by
cach district to the county fund, to be expended in working, keeping in
order, and repairing the public roads in such district; the said board of
supervisors may purchase any grader, scraper, wagon, cart, tools, teams,
and harness which are owned by any road district in its county, at a fair
and just price, to be paid out of said general fund, and such price so.
paid shall be expended in working, keeping in order, and repairing the
public roads in said district.

(12) Levy of district road tax limit ; how collected and expended ; treas-
urer to keep separate account; when levy to be submitted to vote of peo-
ple.—The board of supervisors of each county shall annually levy, along
with the county levy, a road tax upon the property, real and personal,
assessed for taxation in the several magisterial districts of their county,
which shall be applied to the working, keeping in order, and repairing the
public roads in such district, and in defraying the district’s proportion of
expense of construction of any public road therein for which State aid
is obtained, as may be provided for by law. Such tax shall be not more
than forty cents upon every one hundred dollars in value of such property,
and the same shall be collected, accounted for, and paid out on the
warrant of the board as if it were a county levy, except that the fund
collected from each magisterial district shall be kept separate by the
county treasurer, and a different rate of tax may be prescribed for dif-
ferent districts in the same county. The amount collected in each dis-
trict, together with the amount apportioned to each district under the
provisions of the preceding section, shall be expended therein: provided,
that when the board of supervisors decide to levy a tax under this and the
preceding section exceeding a total of fifty cents on the one hundred
dollars’ worth of property, then before such tax shall be levied the ques-
tion as to such tax shall be submitted to the people of the county or dis-
trict affected as to whether such tax shall be levied. Such election shall
be held under the provisions of the law in regard to the issuance of bonds
for road purposes, except that upon the ballot used shall be printed “for
increase of road tax” and “against increase of road tax”: and provided.
that no voter whose residence in a town exempts him from said tax shall
be allowed to vote on said question.

(13) Supervisors to prescribe rules and plans for making roads, and
soforth.—The board of supervisors, subject to the direction of the State
engineer, shall, from time to time, prescribe and note upon the records
of their proceedings such plans, specification, restrictions, and directions
as they deem best for the working, keeping in order, and repairing the
roads and bridges in their respective counties, including any special plans,
specifications, restrictions, or directions which they may prescribe for
particular roads or bridges, and they shall, from time to time, fix the
price allowed for the hire of hands, and for the use of teams, plows, and
other implements on the public roads.

(14) Appointment of county superintendents of roads.—Except when
commissioners or superintendents of roads are provided for by some
special road law, there shall be appointed biennially during the month of
January, by the board of supervisors by the vote of a majority of all the
supervisors of the county, a superintendent of roads, who shall either be
a civil engineer or a person well versed in road building, whose duty it

shall be to superintend and direct the opening, repairing, and keeping in
order of all county roads and bridges within the county for which he is
appointed, and to further act as purchasing agent for said board of
supervisors in purchasing all material and supplies required in the prose-
cution of such work and the performance of his duties by said superin-
tendent shall be in such manner and under such regulations and r-
strictions as may be prescribed by the board of supervisors of his county
and the State engineer: provided, that the work done and expenses in-
curred under this section shall be deemed to relate to county work and
the county road fund, except where otherwise directed by said board: and
provided, further, that the working and repairing of the roads of the
several magisterial districts of a county to which the district road fund is
applicable shall be under the supervision and control of said superinten-
dent of roads, or of a deputy, as hereinafter provided for, or of the
county supervisor of said magisterial district, as the board of supervisors
may in each case or from time to time direct: provided, that the board
of supervisors of any county may appoint and employ, at such compen-
sation as they may fix, not exceeding three dollars per day for each day
actually engaged at work in discharging the duties of his office, such a
superintendent of roads for each of the several magisterial districts of
the county, or one for two or more of such districts, who shall have the
same duties with respect to their several districts as are above prescribed
as the duties of a county superintendent of roads; and when all the dis-
tricts of the county are thus provided with superintendents of roads, the
board of supervisors may or may not, as in its discretion it may deem
best, appoint a superintendent of roads for the whole county.